McHenry County Blog

Bishop Dr. Michael J. Love of Trinity Baptist Church International in Crystal Lake was one who spoke to the fund raising dinner.

Two sections of the Concord Banquet Hall in Lake Zurich were filled by Pro-Life supporters of the Tri-County Pregnancy and Parenting Center Thursday night.

Dennis DeMoss

The night was held for the purpose of replenishing the treasury of the ministry, which operates offices on the street where the McDonald’s Playland is located in Crystal Lake and in Grayslake.

Board Chairman Dennis DeMoss remembered giving the pitch twenty years ago when the group did not have the money to pay for the dinners.  This year, donors picked up the tab prior to the event.

Besides pledges and donations made at the dinner, churches set out large plastic baby bottles that bring in about $40,000 a year.

And a thrift store earns $600 a week.

But expenses are high for the two locations, both of which Tri-County is purchasing, rather than renting.  That saves money because under not-for-profit ownership they are property-tax exempt.  There is also no hassle with landlords.

The price to operate the two offices four an half days a week is $4,300 a month.

One day is dedicated to the Spanish speaking population.

By attending classes, clients gain points to purchase items needed by babies, diapers.

One featured speaker, 38-year old Gloria Farber, couldn’t attend because she gave birth today.  Her doctor concluded that the child was not getting enough nourishment in the womb and decided an early delivery would be best.

Staffers don’t usually assist with births, but one of the worker bees for the dinner had agreed to do so and when she got a call just as she was about to leave to help prepare the banquet hall’s decorations and silent auction, Farber called and said it was her time.

Since she was supposed to speak, a written statement was induced.

Farber told of having lost her job, the father being an hour away and showing little interest in her being pregnant had led her to consider “terminating the pregnancy,” as she put it.

She looked up Planned Parenthood locations, but turned to Tri-County for a free pregnancy test.

Tri-County helped her to clarify her feelings and she decided to keep the “fetus,” as she described her child.

As one who has been on both sides of the abortion issue (Pro-Choice during my 8 years in the Illinois House in the 1970′s, Pro-Life during the 8 years I served in the 1990′s), I was struck by the Pro-Choice language I heard in the written testimony.

Nevertheless, the Pro-Life servants of the Lord at Tri-County helped bring Farber’s child’s soul into the light of day.

Rebecca and Jonathan Brown admire their baby.

One couple who spoke this year, Rebecca and Jonathan Brown even managed to locate a woman who would help them with a home birth, thus avoiding hospital costs.

“We didn’t go broke.  We have money in the bank,”  he revealed after explaining that the family’s health insurance would have still left them with a big bill had they went the tradition hospital birth route.

Tryler Schneiderman, Angela Rabeler and baby.

Another new father, Tyler Schneiderman told of his and mother Angela’s having taken every class possible to earn points.

When the birthing process began, he was pressed into service to hold his wife’s leg.  He indicated that was more than he had signed on for, but there was a shortage of personnel at the hospital.

The father whose child was born at home could identify because he ended up holding the mother’s leg during birth, too.

Neither seemed to have relished the task.

Imagine my delight with Grayslake’s Lord of Glory Lutheran Church Pastor Brian Davies’ benediction was the blessing that I give my son every night:

Pastor Brian Davies announced his family's newest pregnacy for the first time at the dinner.

“May the Lord bless and keep you.

“May the Lord make his face shine upon you.

“May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”

He added some additional thoughts as well.

To set the stage, Davies recalled how the children of God won battles when Moses hands were held high, even when his closest followers were holding up the tired arms for him.

He told those in attendance that they were holding up the arms of staff and volunteers who served in Tri-County’s mission.

You know I look for politician types at events.  This time the only one I saw was District 3 McHenry County Board candidate Mary Alger.  One of Dave McSweeney’s advisors, Charlie Johnston was in attendance as well.

Special Prosecutor Henry Tonigan tried to get McHenry County Circuit Judge Gordon Graham to pull the plug on his assignment to prosecute McHenry County State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi.

Judge Graham pointed out that the McHenry County Board had appealed his decision to allow the County Board into the fee portion of the Special Prosecutor case and that meant he did not have jurisdiction over the case anymore.

Henry Tonigan. Photo credit: First Electric Newspaper.

Thomas McQueen. Photo credit: First Electric Newspaper

Yesterday, Tonigan’s associate Thomas McQueen, who admitted he did most of the work on the second indictment of Bianchi, has petitioned Winnebago County Circuit Court Judge Joseph McGraw to get out of trying the case.

Today, Tonigan followed McQueen’s example, pointing to a letter he considered to be threatening that had been sent by Bianchi attorney Terry Ekl.  The letter appears to mirror the one that McQueen received.

From reading the paperwork, the withdrawal logic is similar, except that Tonigan points to his father’s ill condition and need for his help.

What Henry Tonigan said June 29, 2011, about his father's condition.

He also includes the following undated statement, which I presume is from Tonigan’s first attempt to drop out of the case.  It is below:

This statement come from an attachment to Henry Tonigan's June 29, 2011, motion to withdraw from prosecuting Lou Bianchi. The exhibit is undated.

Have you ever talked to supervisors who have told you the excuses that malingerers use to explain why they took the day off?

Pity the one who says that his or her mother’s father has just died.

And, then uses the same excuse again.

On April 25th, McHenry County Special Prosecutor filed a motion saying he wanted to withdraw from the criminal prosecution of McHenry County State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi because

• his 86-year old father has an unnamed medical condition that requires his attention, that
• his sister can’t help has her own serious medical problems and has moved from his abode to California.

But now, the Daily Herald reports Tonigan has enough time to take on the investigation of whether Grayslake school district officials/teachers that used public resources to help elect school board members.  That sounds like a case for the Lake County State’s Attorney, not a retired judge who needs time to take care of his father.

The headline from the Daily Herald's article Tuesday that Henry Tonigan is taking on another job, while declining the finish the one assigned him in McHenry County by Judge Gordon Graham.

Asked about what McQueen was doing before Tonigan’s motion appeared, Bianchi attorney Terry Ekl explained,

“McGraw is the only possibility for McQueen to escape this case.

Terry Ekl explaining that he is about to file an April motion to replace Special Prosecutor Henry Tonigan and his assistant Thomas McQueen before Judge Gordon Graham.

“Graham, clearly, will not issue any orders.

“What McQueen really is asking is that his appearance on behalf of the special state’s attorney, Skip Tonigan, be stricken.

“As you know this is a very unusual situation.

“In my 35 years practicing criminal law I have never heard of a prosecutor wanting to ‘withdraw’ from a case.

“If a prosecutor does not want to prosecute a case he will dismiss the case.

“That is what should happen here.”

Ekl also observed,

“This is nothing but an excuse to try to get out of the mess that he and Tonigan created.

“There is (rarely an) ability of a prosecutor to withdraw on a case they have brought.

“McGraw may agree to strike the appearance of McQueen and then Tonigan can continue to prosecute the case. Remember that Tonigan is the special State’s attorney and McQueen is his assistant.

“Although this is a further mess I do not believe that McGraw will change the trial date.”

The case is up before McGraw in Rockford on Friday at 10:00.

Special Prosecutor Thomas McQueen has filed a motion before Circuit Court Judge Gordon Graham, apparently Tuesday, to withdraw as the main man going after McHenry County State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi.

Previously, the Special Prosecutor first appointed by then-Associate Judge Gordon Graham, former Circuit Court Judge Henry Tonigan, asked to withdraw from the case to care for his ailing father.

Special Prosecutor Henry Tonigan (on the right) and his assistant Thomas McQueen (on the right) have both petitioned the man who appointed them, Judge Gordon Graham, to be relieved of their responsibilities. Photo by First Electric Newspaper.

Tonigan, however, has taken on internal investigative duties at Grayslake School District 46. Use of school resources in the last school board election has been documented by Tea Party members.

Graham refused to let Tonigan go on the grounds that the McHenry County Board had appealed his ruling to the 2nd Appellate Court, thus relieving him of decision-making power in the case.

McQueen points out that on June 20, 2011, (dated July 17, 2011) he received a letter from Bianchi defense attorney Terry Ekl threatening to sue him.

“Under the circumstances as they present themselves now, with the prosecution under threat of suit by the defendant, any further participation in this prosecution by the undersigned will give rise to questions about his judgment in tactical decisions and whether, in response to these threats against him personally and financially, has properly exercised his responsibility as a public prosecutor.”

Tonigan says that the threat will inhibit his “exercisi(ng) independent professional judgment” and “render(ing) candid advice.”

McQueen writes he has to withdraw in order “not to put prosecution in this case in any fashion whatsoever in an ethically improper perspective.”

In our examination of political emails involving the re-election of Grayslake School Board members Mary Garcia, president of a Skokie school district’s union, and Sue Fackham, we are now about two weeks away from the April 5th election.

Fackham was re-elected, coming in third, while Garcia was not, placing fourth.

Images, remember, can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Earlier collections of emails can be found in Part 1 and Part 2.

That the Lake County State’s Attorney is investigating the matter is found here.

School Board incumbent has a list of Grayslake School District 46 employees for which incumbent running mate Sue Facklam request. One wonders where the list originated.

A proposed letter to Illinois Education Association (teacher union) members was discused on March 16th in an email from Bob Garcia, an employee of the school district with his School Board wife. While some might think it strange for a school board member to have a spouse on the payroll, it is less rare than one might think. Taxpayers do not seem to see any conflict of (or convergence of) interest.

The incumbents are still trying to tap into the resources of the Lake County Democratic Party's Votebuilder on March 17th. The suggestion from incumbent Sue Facklam to incumbent Mary Garcia is to call their consultant, Alex Finke, to whom they have now sent a check.

This email (subject line: "the campaign") from Sue Fackham tells last name withheld "Lisa" and Mary Garcia that her son's friends are willing to pass out literature...for a price. Facklam also solicits senders of friend-to-friend endorsement cards for which postage will be supplied.

"Prohibited political activity" is the topic of this email from Lennie Jarratt to District 46 School Board members and other school district personnel. Attached evidence was apparently not provided by the school district Freedom of Information Officer. See the rest of the email below.

This is a continuation of the email from Round Lake Beach's Lennie Jarratt above.

With the election about a week away, after the warning email from Lennie Jarratt, School Board President Mary Garcia begins to be cautious about using school district email addresses.

Email traffic with Grayslake School District addresses stops showing up about ten days before the election.

The next one–right before the election–is from the office of Republican State Senator Suzi Schmidt.

It conveyed a letter about “alleged ethics violation of Mary Gracia” concerning a March 5th email.  It was sent to Northbrook/Glenview Elementary School Distrrict 30 Superintendent Ed Tivador and Board President Jim Beam and members of the Board of Education.  District 30 is where Grayslake School Board President Mary Garcia is President of the teachers’ union.

The last email is from Chicago Tribune reporter to defeated School Board President Mary Garcia.

That’s what the Trib Local scribe Andrea Brown is reporting.

An official investigation has begun.

You may remember that the Special Prosecutors of McHenry County State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi spent $225,000 we know of looking into the alleged use of official resources for Bianchi’s political benefit.

I believe Quest Consultants International examined over 5,000 emails and found less than ten that were of a political nature. One I remember was from a web hosting company that was told to use a non-government email address to communicate.

Special Prosecutors Henry Tonigan and Thomas McQueen argued that Bianchi assistant Joyce Synek was running Bianchi’s campaign out of the courthouse.

In cross examination of former Criminal Division Chief Nichole Owens, testimony was elicited that Synek’s campaign roll was baking cookies.

In Grayslake, from the email published by McHenry County Blog so far (see “The Grayslake School Board Incumbents’ Campaign (Email) Trail” – Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3),  there is a much stronger case to be made.

Indeed, if as much evidence had been found flowing into and out of the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office, I doubt there would have been a directed verdict of not guilty.

What caught my interest today was an article on the Lake County Tea Party site by Paul Mitchell about Grayslake Unit School District 46.

It is based on emails sent to and from the school district’s email server and shows the planning and execution of the re-election campaigns of incumbent school board members Sue Facklam and Mary Garcia.

I dipped into the email source documents (which can be accessed at the bottom of Mitchell’s article) obtained through a Freedom of Information request and found some that I would like to share with you.

In long,  long documents like state budgets, I start at the bottom and work my way up.  That’s works for budgets, because legislative leaders often bury bad things near the end.

It works for emails because the last one sent responsive to the FOI request is on the bottom.  For you though, I’ll put them in chronological order starting about two months before the April 5, 2011, election.

What I find most interesting is the interaction between consultant Alex Finke and the candidates.  (In any of these emails, you can click to enlarge them, if you can’t read them.)

This March 1st email from incumbent Mary Garcia to consultant Alex Finke seems to give advice on how to evade the Illinois Campaign Finance Disclosure laws.

This email from incumbent Sue Facklam tells of how gift cards were give to high school students who registered to vote. She notes that practice "is probably illegal."

This email tells how the incumbents reached out to Lake County Democrats for data base help.

A retired teacher apparently sent a letter to the editor. The reaction was to try to find out how much of a salary bump he got before retiring.

Teachers are filling out "friend-to-friend" post cards. The union will pay postage.

Lake County Democrats are unwilling to share Votebuilder because Mary Garcia, one of the incumbents, did not vote in the Democratic Party primary election.

"You won last time doing nothing."

Campaign FaceBooking about noon at school.

Here's a campaign appearance invitation.

"Is it illegal for me to forward this??" asks Diane Elfring, the District 46 teacher union president.

The Patf's Pizza fund raiser does not have the required campaign disclosure telling where one can purchase a copy of the political action committee's campaign disclosure report.

What follows–in two parts–is an email telling how a joint campaign might avoid filing campaign disclosure reports.

The local library's email seems to have been used for political purposes.

More later. (Here are Part 2 and Part 3.)

Here’s the information about the event and the group:

Guest Speakers For Transparency Kick-off this Saturday

On February 5th, this Saturday, at our Transparency Kick-off, one of our own, Congressman Joe Walsh along with Illinois State Senator Dan Duffy, Gubernatorial Candidate Adam Andrzejewski (For The Good of Illinois) and Leader of Palatine TeaParty, Craig Mijares, will be joining us to share their experience in and explain the importance of Government Transparency.

Adam Andrzejewski

When: February 5th, 2011, 12:00-2:00PM

Where: Living Waters Assembly of God, 525 N. Atkinson Road, Grayslake

Check Out Our Beginning Transparency Pages

Local Transparency Illinois Transparency

Welcome to Lake County Illinois!

Where our property taxes help to rank us as the 17th most expensive County to live in in the United States and #1 in Illinois!

That’s not bad I guess….except when you look at the 3,124 counties across the United States that are cheaper!

Forbes estimates as of 2007 tax records that the average household in Lake County pays 6.7% of their income on property tax alone.

Personally I think this is low as many people I know have had massive property tax increases in the past few years, some as high as $1,000 per year.

We also have that 6.25% State sales tax to add on top of our local sales taxes. The average family in Lake County pays 25% Federal income Tax.

Not to mention what it costs to run Government Locally!

American Legislative Exchange Council ranks Illinois 38th in education based partially on 68% of low income fourth graders who did not test proficient in reading!

Nation wide according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress who gives a nation wide test, 35% of our High school students scored proficient in Reading and only 23% in Mathematics.

In the 2006 PISA exam according to the US Department of Education the performance of US 15 year old students in Math and Science Literacy, scored lower than 23 other countries and lower than the average scored by other industrialized Nations, such as Poland, Slovak Republic, Hungary, Norway and Spain.

Just by looking at one local public school financial report card you can take the per pupil operating expense plus the instructional expenditures per pupil and multiply that times and average of 21 students per class and I come up with a cost per classroom of…..are you ready?

$451,248.

Have you ever wondered where all this money goes?

We need your help to find out!

Our new agenda………Transparency in Local Government!

If they can’t hear us in Springfield maybe they can hear us at home!

Dorian and Tom

About The 912 Patriots

You’re invited to join like minds in preserving what our founding fathers established in the Constitution. If you’re unsettled, uneasy or just disgusted with the direction our country is headed…we’re here for you. 9/12 stands for the day after Sept. 11, 2001 when we as a country came together putting aside our political affiliations for the betterment of the United States of America. It also represents the following…

THE 9 PRINCIPLES

1. America is good.
2. I believe in God and He is the center of my life.
3. I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday.
4. The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government.
5. If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.
6. I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results.
7. I work hard for what I have and I will share it with whomever I want. Government cannot force me to be charitable.
8. It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion.
9. The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they answer to me.

THE 12 VALUES
Honest – Thrift – Sincerity – Courage – Reverence – Humility – Moderation – Hope – Personal Responsibility – Charity – Hard Work – Gratitude

If you agree with 7 out of the 9 principles, please join us in gathering our voices to be heard by Washington. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thought some might be interested in Glenn Beck’s take on the Grayslake League of Women Voters debate for the 8th Congressional District.

It got Republican Joe Walsh some national publicity.

Here’s what he wrote:

My name is Joe Ptak and I live in Island Lake, Illinois.

I attended the Joe Walsh-Melissa Bean “forum” and I WAS THE INDIVIDUAL who stood up and wanted to know why the pledge of allegiance was not going to be recited…I thought it might have been an oversight.

I was flabbergasted and stunned to hear the LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS moderator say to me, and the audience, that it was never part of their program at these events and will not allowed.

Please keep in mind that this “forum” was organized in Grayslake High School for the benefit of the students, who were asking the questions. Furthermore, there were numerous students present (gaining extra credit) as well as 350 adults and media who packed the auditorium.

I served in the USAFR’s for ten (10) years and there were many veterans in attendance.

I was so proud when the audience rose up one by one, then in mass to recite the pledge of allegiance with loud and heavy emphasis on the words LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL.

The moderator then had the gall to admonish the audience and for “disrespecting her”…my wife told me if that woman did not shut up she was going to get her “Brooklyn up” (being from NY).

I happen to be an Hispanic immigrant from Peru, South America, who was brought to this great country by my parents, along with three other siblings in 1960, when I was eight years old.

I was raised in Chicago, have seen, and experienced a lot in this world.

People are literary dying each day for just the OPPORTUNITY to live in this great land I call my home.

There are ignorant people in this land who do not have the slightest idea, nor understand, what it means to be an AMERICAN.

Red Skelton pledging Allegiance to the Flag.

Our Liberty, Freedom of Speech and the Press are never guaranteed and we must always fight to maintain them.

I think our students in attendance witnessed that first hand and gained a lot of extra credit for themselves.

= = = = =
More comments can be found under the following stories

10-21-10 Why is the League of Women Voters Against the Pledge of Allegiance Being Recited at the Beginning of their Voter Forums?

10-21-10 Joe Walsh Campaign Reacts to League of Women Voters

10-22-10 What the League of Women Voters’ Moderator of the Walsh-Bean-Scheurer Debate Said about the Pledge of Allegiance

And 50 years ago commedian Red Skelton gave this monologue on the Pledge of Allegiance.

American Flag at the Washington Monument.

I took some time to jot down what the Lake County League of Women Voters’ moderator said about the 8th Congressional District debate audience’s insistence on reciting the Pledge of Allegiance before the Grayslake High School event.

“I have absolutely nothing for or against saying the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of something like this, but, in fact, that has never been part…”

At this point she stopped talking as the audience said the Pledge of Allegiance.

“I hope, I hope that that would be the last time I am disrespected.

“There is no disrespect—excuse me, excuse me—there is no disrespect for the flag when something in a forum which does not typically begin with the Pledge of Allegiance doesn’t begin with it.

“There’s no disrespect intended.

“The League of Women Voters does forums like this constantly. This is the 4th, the 5th one I’ve done this year.

“It’s never been requested and I have to say that being forced by having audience members stand up in a presumably planned way to have to seems a bit disrespectful.”

You can listen for yourself below: